Booted warbler

The booted warbler was first formally described as Sylvia caligata by the German physician, explorer, botanist and zoologist Martin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein with its type locality given as the Ilek River, near Orenburg. This species is now classified in the genus Iduna, the tree warblers, within the family Acrocephalidae.{{cite web |url=https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=1A6C6F17 |title=Booted Warbler Iduna caligata (Lichtenstein, MHC 1823) |access-date=23 April 2025 |publisher=Denis Lepage |website=Avibase}} All the "Old World warblers" were formerly classified within the wastebin taxon known as Sylviidae sensu lato, but in the late 20th Century, molecular studies resulted in this taxon being divided into a number of families.{{cite journal |author1=Andreas J. Helbig |author2=Ingrid Seibold |title=Molecular Phylogeny of Palearctic–African Acrocephalus and Hippolais Warblers (Aves: Sylviidae) |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=11 |issue=2 |year=1999 |pages=246-260 |issn=1055-7903 |doi=10.1006/mpev.1998.0571}}

It was formerly considered to be conspecific with Sykes's warbler, but the two are now usually both afforded species status.{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2009.04.006|pmid=19393746| year=2009| title=Multi-locus phylogeny of the family Acrocephalidae (Aves: Passeriformes) – The traditional taxonomy overthrown|author1=Silke Fregin |author2=Martin Haase |author3=Urban Olsson |author4=Per Alström | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=52| issue=3| pages=866–878 |bibcode=2009MolPE..52..866F }}

The booted warbler belongs to the genus Iduna which was proposed by Alexander Keyserling and Johann Heinrich Blasius in 1840, but they gave no explanation of the genus name, though in Norse mythology, Iðunn, or Iduna, is the goddess of spring and fertility who was changed into a sparrow (or a nut) to enable her rescue by Loki.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/key-to-scientific-names-in-ornithology?name=Iduna|title = Birds of the World - Comprehensive life histories for all bird species and families| date=2024 }} The specific caligata is Latin for "booted" from caliga, "boot".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n84 84], 202 }}

The booted warbler is a small species of warbler, similar in size to a common chiffchaff. It has an undistinguished plumage which is plain greyish brown on the upperparts and paler on the underparts. There is a clear, pale supercilium and a short bill with a dark tip. The jizz shown is of a short-winged rather pot-bellied warbler with a square-tipped tail. This species and Sykes's warbler are challenging to identify.{{cite web |url=https://ebird.org/species/boowar1 |title=Booted Warbler Iduna caligata |access-date=23 April 2025 |website=eBird.org |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology}}

The booted warbler itself breeds from central Russia to western China, and migrates to winter in the Indian subcontinent as far south as Sri Lanka. Booted warbler has expanded its breeding range westward in recent decades and nests now as far west and north as Finland.{{cite web |url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/booted-warbler-iduna-caligata |title=Booted Warbler Iduna caligata |access-date=23 April 2025 |website=Birdlife Datazone |publisher=Birdlife International}}

This species is a regular vagrant to Western Europe with, for example, over 180 records in Great Britain up to 2023.{{cite journal |author=Louise Bacon |author2=Paul French |author3=British Birds Rarities Committee |display-authors=1 |title=Report on rare birds in Great Britain in 2022 |journal=British Birds |volume=116| issue=October 2023 |pages=546-602}}

The booted warbler nests between May and early July, building a nest which is shaped like a cup and created from twigs, roots, stems and leaves, lined with feathers, animal hair and plant down. The nest is located on or close to the ground, or at a maximum height of 1 metre above the ground, hidden among dense undergrowth. It is mainly insectivorous.

File:Booted Warbler, Iduna caligata.jpg|Booted warbler seen in Udumalpet, Tamil Nadu, India

File:Iduna caligata MHNT ZOO 2010 11 201 Pérowsk.jpg|Eggs of Iduna caligata MHNT

File:Booted warbler (Iduna caligata).jpg|Booted warbler (Iduna caligata), Palakkad, Kerala, India

{{Commons category|Iduna caligata}}

{{Wikispecies|Iduna caligata}}

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booted warbler

Category:Birds of Russia

booted warbler

{{Acrocephalidae-stub}}